1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique related to a microscope system and in particular to a technique related to an electric control system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of microscope systems, recent years have witnessed the demands for observation capabilities becoming increasingly diverse, and associated with the diverse demands, observation methods have also been increasingly diverse. As an example of demands for observation capabilities, there is a requirement for observing a change in a specimen over an extended period of time. An example of an observation method attaining the requirement is time-lapse photography in which a specimen is photographed at intervals (i.e., ranging from a few seconds to a few hours) desired by a user during the observation period of time.
If a microscope system is manually operated in observation methods such as time-lapse photography and the observation period takes an extended length of time, the load levied on an observer is large and it is very difficult to secure the necessary manpower. Therefore, there is a strong demand to automate the operation for such an observation method. As a result, a microscope system employing the aforementioned method is equipped with a large number of electric units (i.e., electric parts and an illumination unit) for implementing the automation. Many of these electric units continue to consume electric power for an extended length of time, resulting in an increase in the calorific power over time.
In an observation using a microscope, there are many cases in which an increase in the internal temperature of a specimen is undesirable in terms of the characteristics of the observation. Examples of this include an observation of a live cell for an extended time period, an observation in which temperature drift associated with increased definition must be strictly avoided, and an observation performed under reduced darkness output when photographing at a high sensitivity.
Various methods have accordingly been devised to stop operating electric parts and illumination devices in order to suppress the power consumption and heat generation as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Registered Patent 3482247 and Laid-Open Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-195274.
The aforementioned related techniques, however, focused only on stopping non-operated parts, do not describe any aspect of a recovery operation. Consequently, it is very difficult to apply these techniques to a complex time-lapse photography involving a plurality of photographing intervals and observation methods. Further, if a device requiring a certain period of time between the initiation and stable state is used, a photograph is sometimes taken before the preparation of the device is completed, even when no such taking of a photograph is desired by a user. Further, such a taking of a photograph sometimes degrades the image quality of the photographed image or spoils the taking of photographs.